Denver – The City and County of Denver will issue two new COVID-19 public health orders addressing face coverings and indoor capacity restrictions. The new orders are issued as the state makes the COVID-19 dial optional for local jurisdictions beginning Friday, April 16.
Denver’s Face Covering Order removes previous restrictions that required face coverings in outdoor settings. The order aligns with neighboring counties and the state’s restrictions, and provides a few additional protections, such as applying the face covering requirement to children age 3 and older. The order provides important consistency by aligning with nearly all other metro-area counties, and it adheres to CDC requirements for face coverings on public and shared transportation. The 30-day order takes effect today and will be re-evaluated for possible extension closer to its expiration date.
Based on key public health factors such as vaccinations, variants, case rates, hospitalizations and fatalities, Denver finds it necessary to maintain some capacity and distancing requirements for the next 30 days for both indoor and outdoor settings while continuing a phased relaxation of certain measures.
Similar to other metro-area counties, the revised Public Health Order shifts Denver from Level Yellow according to the State’s Dial to restrictions consistent with Level Blue for most categories. The 30-day order takes effect Friday, April 16 and will be re-evaluated for possible extension closer to its expiration date. New capacity limits for Denver will include the following:
- 75 percent capacity at offices
- 75 percent capacity for retail businesses
- 100 percent capacity for gyms, recreation centers and pools, with six-foot distancing between non-household members
- 100 percent capacity for restaurants, with 6-foot distancing between parties and a group size limit of 10
- 25 percent capacity for bars that do not serve food, not to exceed 75 people
- Alcohol beverage sales at bars/restaurants allowed until 2 a.m.
- Indoor unseated events at 50 percent capacity, not to exceed 175 people per room
- Indoor seated events at 100 percent capacity, with six-foot distancing between groups of up to 10 individuals (indoor events with over 500 people must consult with the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment)
- Outdoor seated and unseated events with fewer than 5000 attendees at 100 percent capacity, with a written mitigation plan that facilitates social distancing between parties.
- Proposed events with 5000 or more attendees must consult with DDPHE before the event can occur.
Additionally, the Five Star program will continue as follows:
- Indoor events at 50% capacity not to exceed 500 people
- Restaurants, gyms, recreation centers, and pools are not afforded extra capacity because they will be allowed to operate at 100% capacity with six-foot distancing.
- All other certified businesses may allow up to 50 additional people in each setting beyond the limits.
For more information on how to get vaccinated including people that cannot leave their home visit denvergov.org/COVID-19.
City and County of Denver
Joint Information Center
1437 Bannock St. Denver, CO, 80202
Jic_news@denvergov.org
p: 720.865.7695
